Advertising sign



Patented Dec. 1, 1931 UNITEDVSTATES OFFICE JOHN FRANK B'UBNA LITICQ F em'rwoon, NEW inRsEY, ssienoa'ro rannnmcxnn.

. MINARD, or new Yonx, my.

ADVERTISING SIGN Application illed March 13, 1928. SerialNo. 261,224.

alternately, generally known as animated ad vertising, a translucent screen with advertising matter on each side is employed, and the illuminating means is disposed behind the screen. The principal object of. this invention'is to apply the advertising. matter or indicia on the front of a screenof this type and soregulate the relative illumination of the front and rear of the screen that a series of contrasting efiectscare transmitted to the observer. The invention utilizes the property of colored pigments to appear differently when-viewed by reflected light than when viewed by light transmitted; therethrough. The invention will be more fully understood from the following description taken in connection-with the accompanying drawings,in which I g Fig. 1 represents one form ofthe invention, as it appears without illumination of the rear of the screen; e. Fig. 2 represents the sign shown in Fig. 1 when the rear is illuminated to a certain deme e g Fig. 3 represents'thesame sign, .the intensity of the light behind the screen belng greater than that of the light employed to produce the elfect'shownin Fig.2; and t Fig. 4 is a side view of the screen showing one arrangement of the illuminating means. -Referringto the drawings, a screen 10 of paper, glassor other suitable materlal 1s coated or otherwise colored with a dark pigment as shown at 11,.such as, however,to leave the colored screentranslucent. It has been found inpractice'that a dark grey is suitable for the purpose, and in order to simplify thefdescription Of'thGOPGIiLtlOIl of the device the colored portion 11 will be re-' ferred to hereinafter as grey.. It is tobe understood, of course, that other colors may be employed, with equal effectiveness. ;Superposed on the colored portion of the screen are letters, designs'orfother advertising mat ter 12, f of,v a contrasting color "and lighter colored background on which they are painted or printed. A white paint or ink produces effective results, andthe ad vertising matter 12 maybe referredto here inafter as white to simplify the description.

asgsh'own in Fig. 1 letters fAH appear white on a grey background. This is due to the fact that only reflectedlight is seen, the

illumination of the'front of the screen being produced by a lamp 14: (see igfli) in front of the sign or by ordinary sunlight during the day. If the rear surface of the sign is now illuminated and the intensity of the light ontherear surface is properly regulated, the lighterletterson the front ofthe screen will apparently disappearas indicated in Fig. 2Q fljhis result may be obtained by making the quantity and color of the transmitted and reflected" light of fthe grey background 11 equal to the quantity and colorof the trans mitted and reflectedlight of the white letters 12. One methodof producing the desiredintensityon the 'reanof thesereen is shown in F1g.4 ,-the lamp 13 being so spaced from the screen that the; equation referred "to above with respectto lamps l3 and 14 is fulfilled to produce the effect shown inFig. 2.

5 Suitable energizing means -may be provided for the lamps13, 14 and 15 and where these. lamps are electric, this means may be in the nature of an electric circuit, conventionally represented at 16 and adapted for selectively connecting therein the various lamps as byswitches l7 and 18. In case of the other types of lampsbeing used, Well known apparatus for obtainingthe desired effectsmay, of course, be used. It will be understood that suitable means may be included in the circuit 16 whereby the throw of the Various switches may be made automatic. Owing-to the well known character of-sueh devices, it hasnot been thought necessary to illustrate any specific embodiment thereof with these specifications. a As a further step in producing still another result the lamp 15' may be placed close tothe rear of the screen so that theintensity ofthe light on the rear of the screen is greater than that onthe front. Although the letters are white, the constituents of the paint are solid and more opaque than the material used to produce the colored background and, for this reason, appear darker than the background when the quantity and color of the transmitted and reflected light of the background is'greater'than the quantity and color of the transmitted and reflected light of the letters to produce the effect shown in Fig. 3.

It will thus be seen that it is ,possible .to

the front surface, of a transparent or translucent material suitable designs, letters or other advertisingmaterial and vary the intensity of the light on the rear surtacezofthe material, so that at least two and, if desired, -thiee contrasting efl'ects are produced. As a matteroffact the sign may be produced by ordinary printing methods and thus be manufactured at smallcost. Instead of'emthe rear of the screen the same resultmay be obtained by inserting a resistance in the'lamp,

circuit and varying the-current employed for illuminating the lamp. Or, if'desired, means maybe employed for moving the lamp towards and away from the screen to varythe intensity of' the light on the rear of the screen. The-same optical effects mayalso be produced *byhaving a permanent'light behind-the screen and increasing or diminishing'ithe light in front. The contrasting .effectsiare olita ined'by variation'of the relative illumination of the front "and rear of'the screen and this, may be obtained in any of numerous ways. 1

' 'Asstatedabovefit is not intended that the background '{be limited to a grey color. It has been found, for instance, that a color produced {by mixing brown and yellow with 46 acolorless varnish willappear white when theintensity of the light onthe rear ofth'e screen is at a predetermined value; litis, therefore,w-p'ossible to produce a sign which appears =to-be white when the rear of the screen is illuminated, whereas when light is projected on the front only, the 'coloring.

material will stand out in contrast to the uncolored portion of thescrcen','if"'thelatter is of a translucent and light material such as paper-or'frostedglass. a

The "principle utilized in the invention is the property o'fcolore d pigments to appear differently when viewed by reflected lightthan'wvhenviewedbylight'transmittedtherethrough. In applying the invention, only the face or fronto'f the screen 'isco1ored,'a-s the colors must appear only'on the front if to be'view'ed by both reflected and'transmitte d light. The colors may be superposed-on one another, as already described, but this is not essentialfas it fis Within the scope of'theinve'ntiontoapp'ly the different colors to different portions ofthe front 'faceof theiscreen without supe'rposing the colors" and thus-ob- 1am similar Team's. *rhe invention generalcolor and paint on one side, or in other words ploying'two lamps'at'; different distances from 1y may be practiced by producing on the front of a screen a plurality of portions having different colors with different appearances when Viewed by reflected or transmitted light.

Although a'preferred form of the invention has been described and illustrated, it is obvious-that various combinations of lights and colors may .be employed to produce a number of eflects, and it'is, therefore, not in tended that the invention be limited to the specific-embodiment shown and described.

'What I claim is: 1-; The :method flfrproducing optical effects in translucent advertising signs which consists jin'placin'g indicia on one :side only of the sign, said indicia being-ofthe same color as the rest of the sign but of different shades anddiifer'ing'ffrom the rest of the sign in perviousnessto light projecting light-on said sidafanavaryin the amount of light on theot'her "side'of the sign.

. 2; The method of producing optical effects in translucent signs which consists in placing indicia on one side ionlyof the sign, said indicia being'ofthe same color as the rest-0f thesignbuto'f different shades anddiflering from the rest 'of the sign in perviou-sness to light, projecting light on said side and varyingithe amount of 'light on the-o'therside of t'he sign to make "the quantity and color of transmitted and reflected light of the indicia equal'tothe 'uantit-y and color oftransmitted a nd"reflecte d liglit ofthe remainder of the sign; 3. .An' advertising device comprising a translucent'screen having 'inclicia placed on one side only thereof, said indicia being of the same color as, but of a 'diflerent shade than said'screen and of a different perviousness to light than said screen, said screen being capable of reflecting light projected thereon, means for illuminating the other side of said'screen and means for varying the amount of light-on said other side.

- -4. An*-advertising device comprising a translucent screen having indicia placed on one side onlythereof, saidindicia being of the-same-color as, but different shade t than said-screenand of adiifrnt pervious- H5 ness'to light thanisaid screen, said screen be- 'ing capable 'of reflecting light projected thereon, means for illuminating the other sideofsa'id screen, and means for varying the light projectedon one side ofsaid screen to make the quantity and'e'o'lor of transmitted and reflected light Ofthe 'indicia 'equal to the quantity -and"co'lor of transmitted and re flected light-of thea remainder of the-screen.

' "5. iA-dev'ice for; producing optical effects comprising a translucent sign having a plu-' rality of'colored portions of differing-optical density,- said colored {portions being such'that when f-viewed in 1 a certain light they will ap- A pear'ithe'same and means 'for varying the ree its

relative illumination of the front and rear of said sign.

6. A device for producing optical effects comprising a translucent sign having a plurality of colored portions of differing optical density, said colored portions being such that when viewed in reflected and transmitted light of intensities of a certain ratio they appear the same and when viewed in reflected and transmitted light of intensities of other ratios they contrast in appearance and means for varying the relative illuminationof the front and rear of the said sign.

7. A device for producing optical effects comprising a translucent sign having a plurality of colored portions having differing optical densities, said colored portions being such that when viewed in reflected and trans- 1 mitted light of intensities of a certain ratio they appear the same and when viewed in reflected and transmitted light of intensities of other ratios they contrast in appearance,

illuminating means for one side of said sign and means for varying the intensity of the illumination. o

8. A device for producing optical effects comprising a translucent sign having a plurality of colored portions having differing optical densities, said colored portions being such that when viewed in reflected and transmitted light of intensities of a certain ratio they appear the same and when viewed in reflected and transmitted light of intensities of other ratios they contrast in appearance,

illuminating means for both sides of said sign and means for varying the intensity of i said illuminating means.

9. A device for producing optical effects comprising a translucent sign having a plurality of colored portions of differing optical density and of differing shades of the same color and means for varying the relative illumination of the front and rear of said sign.

10. The method of producing varylng A optical effects in signs which consists in providing a screen having separate relatively translucent and opaque regions, projecting light of constant intensity on one side of the screen, and with selectively varying intensity upon the opposite sides thereof.

11. The method of producing varying optical effects in signs which consists in illuniinating an area of a screen uniformly over one side thereof and transmitting light I of selectively varying intensity through the screen from the opposite sidein fractional regions only of said screen.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 9th day ofv hiarch, 1928.

JOHN FRANK BUBNA LITIG. 

